I’ve always been irritated by some friends’ abilities to get by on 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night while I routinely need 8 or 9. I always assumed it was something I couldn’t do anything about, but the Sleepwarrior website claims there’s a little bit of evidence that you can train your body to get by on less sleep. They site an old study in which participants reduced their sleep hours by 30 minutes a night every few weeks. Eventually some subjects managed to get by on 4.5 hours of sleep.
The amazing thing is that, even a year after the study ended, all study participants were still sleeping 1-2 hours less a night than before the study!
So as of Monday, I will be sleeping no more than 7.5 hours a night for the next few weeks. The Sleepwarrior site also suggests waking up at the same time every day in order to train your body to release the “wake up” hormones at the same time each day, making it easier to drag yourself out of bed. I’ve always been really bad about this (morning workouts made it almost impossible) so I’ll be implementing this suggestion as well. 12:30 am to 8 am will be my standardized sleep schedule until the middle of September.
The one question is what do I do if I go to bed later on the weekend? Do I sleep in to get my 7.5 or wake up at 8 to keep my body clock? I’m leaning toward forcing myself out of bed in the morning, then taking a nap in the afternoon. I’ll log my ongoing experiences here.
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Awesome man, thats really interesting, let me know how it goes.
Have you read Steve Pavlina’s experience with polyphasic sleep? I’d suggest that you get up at the same time every day, regardless of how late you go to bed on some days.
Good luck, I don’t have the self-discipline to do this right now, but I’d like to become an early riser.
Why don’t you just try polyphasic sleeping?
I’ve read about polyphasic sleeping, but Steve Pavlina said the main reason he stopped doing it was because it threw his schedule so far off with the rest of society. Right now I’m still interested on being on the same schedule as everyone else, though ideally with just a bit more time. Craig’s mentioned that he’ll give polyphasic sleeping a try once he has kids, which sounds like a good plan to me.
Yeah, I wouldn’t suggest doing polyphasic sleeping for that reason as well. But it’d be great if I could really become an early riser, something that I’ve struggled with. Right now I’m looking at getting a good alarm clock to help me, like the “Clocky” or the Puzzle Clock.
Jeremy – check out Sleep Warrior’s How to Never Oversleep Again and Steve Pavlina’s How to Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off.
Have you tried those sleep cycle products, like Sleeptracker. It’s supposed to wake you up during an optimal “almost-awake” moment of your regular sleep pattern. I don’t know if they work, but many people swear by them.
Do you snore? If you’re waking up tired, for example, that’s an important question (from a medical standpoint).
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-25-sleep-deficit_N.htm
I saw this a little while ago. (from the looks of the url, 10 months ago.) The study showed that people who were deprived of sleep stopped wanting more sleep, but showed other negative side effects.
I always had the same problem!
I need 8 or 9 hours :/
I’ll try the same man!
I used to know of someone who believed in “catch up” sleep. If he didn’t get his minimum 10 hours sleep straight, he would add the hours he’d missed to the following night. One time, he slept 16 hours straight and he thought that was normal! Or is it normal?
Does anyone know if there’s such thing as oversleeping? If I slept more than 8 hours, I’d feel even more tired and lazy than if I only got 4 hours of sleep!
I’d be interested to read on how your training goes!
Any update Niels? I’ve had trouble getting myself into a consistent schedule and still wake up on “college hours”. Trying to get down to a schedule of sleeping from 1-7 (or maybe a bit more).
i think there’s only one logical conclusion here: sleep training impairs and inhibits blog posting!
I’m posting again and down to 6.5 hours a night! I just cut down so I’m still in the adjustment phase, but I’ll let you know how I feel in two weeks…
I wouldn’t go polyphasic unless you’re like Steve Pavlina and don’t have to be around people for extended periods of time. I got an e-book on re-training your body for less sleep (I now get a solid 6 nightly); just a good collection of smart tips and being mindful of one’s physiology. Send me an email if you want a copy. For free of course — I only spam people when it comes to selling Cialis.
Hey Jay!
I see your post dates a year now but I thought I’d try anyway – if possible I’d love a copy of the ebook!
How did the sleep training end up? How many hours a night are you sleeping now? And are you still getting up at the same time?
Thanks
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